Beginning with one wedding and ending with another, this romantic follow-up to McCann's Until borders on the sugary as it exalts friendship and marriage among middle-aged, professional African-Americans in Gainesville, Fla. After a brief courtship, attorney Betty Robinson marries Drew Staley, a financial analyst, even though both are rebounding from previous relationships. Betty is soon drafted into a volatile murder case in which she must represent a famous white football player accused of killing his wife and his black mistress. Drew is preoccupied with his ailing mother, who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and cancer. With these new burdens to distract them from each other, the newlyweds find reason to question their hurried marriage. Meanwhile, Jacqui Jordan, Betty's charming best friend, is finding it hard to love any man as much as she adores her successful restaurant, Jacquetta's even her longtime beau, Stefan DeCoursey, an aging wannabe model. As Betty and Jacqui banter about love and sex, it becomes apparent that McCann's strength lies in his ability to weave an engaging tale from the lives of ordinary folk, although his dialogue isn't always plausible. Over the course of a year, the Staleys marriage comes dangerously close to collapse as they struggle to make mature decisions, and a life-altering event causes Jacqui and Stefan to reevaluate their future together. McCann makes faith in God, friendship and love an important theme of this simple, contemporary novel as his characters attempt to gauge when to stand by their lovers and when to move on. (Apr.)